THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF 

NORTH  CAROLINA 


THE  COLLECTION  OF 
NORTH  CAROLINIANA 


C378 
UK3 

1856R 


UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


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ADDRESS 


DELIVERED    BEFORE    TDB 


Irakiic  aiftl|ilai%.(j|}ic  jsboefiea 


OF    THE 


UNIVERSITY  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA, 


JUNE  4th,  1856, 


BT 


MATT  W.  RANSOM,  ESQ. 


RALEIGH : 

"CAROLINA  CULTIVATOR"    OFFICE. 

1856. 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


Philanthropic  Hall,  June  8th,  1.856. 
Matt  W.  Ransom,  Esqr. 

Sir : — As  a  committee  of  the  Philanthropic  Society,  we  tender  you  the  thanks 
of  that  body  for  the  eloquent  and  patriotic  address  which  you  recently  delivered, 
and  request  a  copy  of  the  same  for  publication. 

fc  Allow  us  as  individuals  to  express  our  earnest  thanks  to  you  for  the  expression 
of  sentiments  which  are  calculated  to  make  us  better  men  and  better  citizens,  and 
to  hope  that  you  will  comply  with  the  wishes  of  the   body  which  we  represent 

Respectfully  yours, 

w.  h.  jordon, 
h.  p.  harrell, 
jno.  Mclaughlin, 

Committee. 


Verona,  Northampton  Co.,  July  20th,  1856. 
Gentlemen: — 

I  have  received  your  very  polite  note,  requesting  for  publication  a  copy  of  the 
Address  which  I  had  the  honor  to  deliver  before  the  Literary  Societies  of  the  Uni- 
versity at  its  last  Commencement 

The  same  motives  which  induced  me  to  accept  your  esteemed  invitation  impel 
me  to  comply  with  this  flattering  request  I  herewith  enclose  you  a  copy  of  the 
Address. 

With  feelings  of  gratitude  and  affection  to  yourselves  and  our  Society  which  I 
cannot  express, 

I  am  sincerely  your  friend, 

M.  W.  RANSOM. 
Messrs: 

JORDON, 
HARRELL, 

Mclaughlin, 

Committee. 


r— 

1L 


ADDRESS, 


Gentlemen  of  the  Dialectic  and  Philanthropic  Societies  : 

When  that  most  illustrious  master  of  English  eloquence,  Edmund 
Burke,  in  the  zenith  of  his  genius,  appeared  before  the  University 
of  Glasgow,  his  peerless  voice  faltered  with  the  beating  of  his  great 
heart,  and  the  orator  who  had  power  to  thrill  a  continent,  there 
stood  speechless  as  a  statue.  In  that  sublime  scene  nature  herself 
proclaimed  the  respect  due  to  science  and  virtue.  The  accomplish- 
ed scholar,  the  splendid  philosopher,  the  unsullied  statesman,  whose 
name  could  shake  a  throne,  whose  eye  gazed  unmoved  on  mitres 
and  sceptres  and  diadems,  and  whose  giant  reason  stalked  like  a 
conqueror  among  the  proudest  of  Europe's  peers,  the  representatives 
of  wealth,  lineage  and  royalty,  when  brought  before  the  representa- 
tives of  the  Letters  of  his  country,  this  sovereign  of  genius  andlearn- 
ing,  a  captive  in  the  chains  of  his  own  emotions,  remained  as  mute 
as  the  walls  that  surrounded  him — a  type  of  the  homage  of  man 
to  that  intellectual  light  whose  source  is  above  the  stars,  and  a 
monument  of  the  glory  of  Literature  only  eclipsed  by  the  silent  af- 
fection of  the  apostle  of  liberty  and  truth.  And  who  can  stand 
here,  amid  these  classic  altars,  around  these  shrines  of  memory, 
beneath  these  familiar  shades,  in  this  venerable  Hall,  on  this  ever- 
honored  Anniversary,  before  this  brilliant  circle  of  youthful  hope 
and  the  assembled  intelligence  of  the  State,  adorned  and  graced 
by  that  lovely  presence  which  speaks  to  our  hearts  of  all  that  is 
good,  beautiful,  pure  and  holy — and  not  feel  .overpowered  by 
associations  of  the  place,  the  time  and  the  purposes  of  our  meet- 
ing. There  is  a  fragrance  in  the  air,  a  light  upon  the  face,  a 
friendship  in  the  heart,  like  the  summer  of  life,  which  make  us 
almost  feel  that  some  Genius  of  love  is  hovering  over  us,  every 
breath  from  whose  wings  dispels  the  clouds  of  care,  inspires  virtu- 
ous joys,  and  fans  and  hallows  the  flames  of  hope. 

I  regret  that  I  can  bring  no  fit  offering  to  this  beautiful  festival. 
Would  that  I  had,  for  your  entertainment,  some  casket  of  precious 
gems — the  rich  jewels  of  history  and  of  learning — some  boquets 
of  fresh  and  fragrant  flowers  from  the  enchanted  land  of  poetry 
aud  rhetoric — some  mental  telescope  to  transport  you  to  the  last- 
discovered  planet  in  the  far-off  Heaven  of  Science,  or  a  panorama 


6 

of  the  icy  palaces  of  the  Arctic  whale,  and  the  snowy  couch  of  the 
Aurora  Borealis.  These  tributes  you  must  not  expect  from  me. — 
The  inferior  Greek  could  not  lift  the  shield  of  Achilles,  nor  can  I 
wear  the  armor  of  the  famous  sages  who  have  so  often  hung  these 
walls  with  the  trophies  of  conquered  arts.  It  seems  but  yesterday, 
since  with  youthful  companions  i  left  your  Pierian  walks  to  enter 
the  great  world  of  men,  and  to  day,  almost  before  I  have  passed 
the  portico  to  the  temple  of  human  knowledge,  in  the  morning  of 
experience,  I  return  by  your  high  request  to  teach  you  the  solemn 
lessons  of  a  pilgrimage  of  which  I  have  seen  but  little  more  than 
yourselves.  But  as  an  adopted  son  of  that  beloved  Society  whose 
beneficence  brightened  my  friendless  pathway,  as  a  North  Carolinian 
nurtured  by  the  foster  care  of  this  noble  University,  as  a  citizen  of 
the  American  Republic,  dependent  for  its  life  and  glory  upon  the 
education  of  its  people,  I  felt  that  I  had  no  right  to  decline  your 
honored  invitation.  I  had  at  least,  interest,  sympathy,  devotion, 
gratitude  and  love — and  I  thought  that  I  would  bring  them. 

I  come  too,  my  young  -friends,  to  greet  you  with  encourage- 
ment and  joy — to  assure  you  that  you  have  a  place  in  our  hearts — 
to  welcome  you  to  the  duties,  the  destinies,  and  the  blessings  of 
active  life  and  to  hail  in  your  coming  the  rising  sun  of  our  good 
State.  I  am  here  to  testify  the  thankfulness  of  the  land  to  your 
estimable  Faculty,  to  congratulate  their  successful  labors,  to  rejoice 
with  you  in  their  eminent  qualifications,  to  wish  them  long  contin- 
ued honor  and  prosperity,  and  to  express  my  sincere  and  fervent 
gratitude  for  their  services  to  me  and  yet  more  for  their  fidelity  to 
the  Institution  and  their  usefulness  to  the  country.  I  come  also 
with  affectionate  admiration  to  declare  to  our  sister  Societies  the 
fond  remembrance  still  cherished  by  their  departed  children,  to 
tell  them  again  of  the  just  esteem  in  which  they  are  universal- 
ly held,  to  animate  their  noble  efforts  and  to  acknowledge  their 
high  claims  among  the  literary  institutions  of  the  age.  Let  us  hope 
that  as  the  mild  satellites  of  this  larger  luminary  they  may  go  on 
revolving  in  their  placid  spheres,  and,  like  the  beautiful  badges  you 
wear,  may  their  memories  ever  shine  on  our  bosoms  as  pure  sou- 
venirs of  "Virtue,"  golden  lights  of  "Science'1  and  bright  stars  of 
"Liberty."  And  more  than  all,  I  come  to  represent  the  deep  inter- 
est, the  high  regard,  the  general  attraction  felt  by  the  people  to 
this  illustrious  College.  Her  auspices  are  all  bright.  In  her 
story  we  find  nothing  that  we  would  alter— it  is  a  shining  record 
of  virtue,  patriotism  and  piety.     Her  future  will  be  just  to  her  past 


It  will  be  read  in  the  diffused  knowledge,  the  enlightened  senti- 
ments, the  moral  habits,  the  just  tastes,  the  conservative  principles) 
the  free  instituti  >ns,  the  patriotic  spirit  and  the  christian  charac- 
ter of  the  commonwealth.  Nor  will  it  end  here.  To-day  six- 
teen States  are  consulting  the  oracles  of  her  wisdom  aud  erudition 
and  radiating  from  this  source  you  may  see  broad  beams  and  bright 
rays  traversing  and  gladdening  every  segment  of  the  national  hori- 
zon. And  what  North  Carolinian's  heart  does  not  warm  at  the  men- 
tion of  Chapel  Hill  ?  Whose  eye  does  not  kindle  at  the  thought 
of  the  University  of  his  State  ?  Who  among  us  can  look  at  the  long 
roll  of  her  distinguished  sons,  read  the  fair  annals  of  her  trials 
and  her  triumphs,  behold  her  fame  now  spread  upon  the  winga 
of  the  Eagle  of  America  and  remember  that  she  is  all  our  own, 
founded  by  our  fathers,  endowed  by  their  love,  sustained  by  their 
intelligence,  the  daughter  of  their  hopes  and  the  mother  of  our 
learning,  and  not  feel  proud  of  his  State,  proud  of  her  Universitj 
and  proud  of  the  great  and  good  men  who  have  left  us  the  inheri- 
tance ?  Let  the  University  be  our  monument  and  our  emblem. 
On  the  escutcheon  of  North  Carolina,  amid  our  armorial  ensigns, 
side  by  side  with  the  Goddess  of  the  harvest  fields,  and  the  image 
of  Liberty,  let  her  lofty  columns  be  placed,  to  remind  those  who 
behold  that  heraldric  group,  that  all  the  arts  are  enlightened  bj 
science — that  intelligence  is  the  shield  and  the  lamp  of  freedom — 
that  the  temple  of  knowledge  is  the  temple  of  power — and  to  show 
the  world  that  a  statue  of  true  glory  can  be  carved  from  the  na- 
tive marble  of  oar  virtues.  And  in  all  the  fortunes  of  our  Slate, 
may  that  figure  fixed  on  her  banner  stand  like  the  mother  of 
Coriolanus  at  the  gates  of  Rome,  a  moral  wall  between  the  am- 
bition of  her  sons  and  the  safety  of  her  country. 

I  must  hasten  from  these  pleasant  meditations,  among  which 
I  have  already  lingered  too  long,  to  the  consideration  of  a  subject 
deeply  interesting  to  the  Young  Gentlemen  of  the  University  of 
North  Carolina,  and  dear,  I  trust,  to  the  hearts  of  all  America. — 
I  shall  dedicate  this  hour  to  a  national  sentiment — a  theme  of  pat- 
riotism that  ought  to  be  entwined  with  the  Literature  of  our 
Country  and  consecrated  by  an  association  with  the  noblest  purposes 
of  science  and  education — the  theme  of  our  National  Union.  To 
that  grand  topic  I  invoke  your  audience,  not  with  the  vain  ex- 
pectation that  I  can  rise  to  the  ''height  of  the  great  argument"  but 
with  the  simple  hope  that  by  introducing  that  idea  here,  it  may 
happen  that  others   will  pursue  it  and   it  shall  come  to  pass  that 


8 

the  image  of  the  Union  of  these  States  shall  be  firmly  fixed 
among  the  imperishable  monuments  of  the  Genius  which  it  fosters 
and  protects.  I  wish  to  see  the  American  Union  solidly  entrenched 
in  the  strong  citadel  of  American  Literature — its  destiny  incor- 
porated with  the  deathless  truths  of  Science — its  name  and  its  bles- 
sings engraven  upon  the  enduring  marble  of  Art  and  brightened 
and  hallowed  by  the  ever  burning  light  of  Eloquence  ;  that  this  mas- 
ter work  of  the  world,  thus  resting  upon  the  cloudless  heights 
of  Reason  and  Justice,  may  become  sacred  in  the  eyes  of  all  men, 
and,  like  the  Palladium  of  the  ancients,  set  in  the  clear  skies  of 
intelligence,  forever  stand  in  glory  above  the  fortunes  of  party  and 
the  storms  of  human  passion.  The  Sun  of  Liberty  and  the  United 
Stars  around  it,  will  shine  upon  our  eyes  with  a  steadier  and  purer 
lustre  when  beheld  in  the  serene  vault  of  virtue  and  wisdom. — 
The  Roman  orator,  gazing  upon  the  splendors  of  the  City  of  the 
Caesars,  exclaimed,  'that  there  was  nothing  in  which  human  virtue 
more  nearly  approached  the  dignity  of  the  Gods  than  in  building 
States,  or  preserving  them  when  founded,"  and  surely  an  American 
citizen  as  he  surveys  the  boundless  prospect  of  his  country's  grandeur! 
may  well  add,  that,  to  preserve  this  government  is  a  divine  duty, 
and  the  brightest  page  in  the  history  of  our  scholars  will  be  that 
on  which  shall  be  inscribed  their  devotion,  their  attachment  and 
their  services  to  the  Union. 

The  history  of  that  Union,  now  embracing,  in  the  life  of  nations, 
the  short  period  of  sixty -seven  years,  presents  a  picture  for  human 
congratulation  unequalled  in  the  recorded  annals  or  authentic  tra- 
ditions of  any  age  since  the  creation  of  the  world.  The  War  of 
Liberty  had  been  fought.  The  peace  of  Paris  in  1783,  had 
proclaimed  the  Independence  of  America.  The  colonial  Union, 
which  springing  not  so  much  from  a  sense  of  common  danger  as 
from  an  ardent  and  undivided  love  of  liberty,  had  been  the  tower 
of  the  revolution,  still  survived,  and  was  now  feebly  transformed  in- 
to the  baseless  and  disproportioned  fabric  of  the  Confederation. 
That  "  rope  of  sand  "  soon  fell  to  pieces,  and  young  America, 
delivered  from  all  foreign  dominion,  was  rushing  headlong  with  the 
energy  of  an  undamned  flood  upon  the  wild  void  of  anarchy.  It 
was  the  first  bound  of  freedom  just  released  from  the  restraints  of 
oppression — the  ocean  heaved  and  tossed — its  billows,  so  lately  con- 
fined, now  rose  to  the  skies,  and  the  whole  earth  rocked  with  tu- 
mult. "Darkness  was  upon  the  face  of  the  deep,"  and  the  orb  of 
hope  which  had  so  lately  risen  upon  the  New  World  was  going  to 


set  in  the  waves  of  deep  despair,  or  change  into  the  terrible  and 
bloody  meteor  that  was  beginning-  to  darken  the  face  of  Europe. 
The  Syren  of  French  Philosophy,  that  Circe  of  liberty,  with  her 
maddening  harp,  was  fast  stealing  the  hearts  of  the  people,  and  the 
infant  Hercules  of  the  Republic  was  about  to  perish  in  his  cradle, 
not  by  the  serpents  of  envy  and  hatred,  but  through  the  ignorance, 
the  discord,  and  the  ti  eason  of  his  nurses. 

Fortunately  for  the  world,  in  that  long  and  gloomy  night  there 
was  an  eye  that  never  slept  It  was  not  the  eye  of  Argus  or  of 
Ulysses,  but  the  eye  of  the  Heaven  appointed  Redeemer  of  his 
country.  He  saw  the  clanger  and  averted  it.  With  a  voice  of  pa- 
triotism, and  peace  the  Father  of  his  Country  called  upon  the  peo- 
ple for  a  united  government  of  equal  laws,  and  the  whole  country 
echoed  a  willing  response  ;  for,  he  had  but  to  lay  his  hand  upon 
the  nation's  heart,  and  it  beat  to  order,  harmony,  duty  and  justice. 
The  circular  letter  addressed  by  General  Washington  to  the  Gov- 
ernors of  the  different  States,  in  which  he  says  "that  an  indissoluble 
Union  of  the  American  States  under  one  Federal  head  is  essential 
to  our  existence  as  an  independent  power,  and  is  the  main  pillar  of 
liberty,"  was  the  harbinger  of  this  Union.  Like  the  dove  from  the 
Ark,  that  letter  was  sent  forth  by  the  great  pilot  of  the  Ship  of  In- 
dependence, as  a  herald  upon  a  mission  of  discovery  and  like  the 
dove,  it  soon  returned  bringing  upon  its  wings  a  token  of  life  and  of 
L  >ve.  The  same  great  hand  that  had  borne  the  sword  of  our  liber- 
ties and  guarded  the  cradle  of  independence,  now  laid  the  corner 
stone  of  the  arch  that  was  to  shield  them  both.  The  Convention 
met.  The  Constitution  of  United  America  was  framed,  and  the  fore- 
most object  of  that  great  deed,  declared  upon  its  very  forehead, 
sealed  in  the  first  line  upon  its  sacred  face,  was  the  establishment  of 
a  "  perfect  union"  of  the  American  States  and  People.  And  then  as 
State  after  State  marched  into  the  Confederacy  and  added  link  to 
link  in  the  chain  of  the  Union,  until  its  broad  circle  embraced  them 
all,  the  work  of  our  political  and  national  creation  was  finished — 
the  light  of  the  Constitution  blazed  and  beamed  over  the  whole 
heavens — the  arch  of  the  Union  spanned  the  circumference  of  the 
Republic,  and  the  pillars  which  upheld  the  starry  firmament  of  Lib- 
erty,  were  supported  and  adorned  by  the  bright  bow,  which  re- 
flected the  glories  of  the  past  and  promised  peace  to  the  future. 

The  Constitution  and  the  Union  !  What  American,  what 
man  !  among  the  living  or  the  dead,  can  speak  of  the  Constitution 
and  the  Union  as  they  ought  to  be  spoken  of  ?     Can   all  the  Ian- 


10 

guages  and  tongues  of  men  express  their  beneficence  and  glory  ? 
Look  around  on  this  vast  sphere  ;  behold  these  happy  millions — 
stretch  your  vision  to  the  remotest  corners  of  the  earth  and  down 
the  line  of  posterity  to  its  most  distant  generation  ;  and  the  univer- 
sal present  and  the  everlasting  future  will  answer  "JSTo."  Ameri- 
can liberty  is  higher  than  all  eloquence,  grander  than  all  languages, 
and  more  sublime  than  all  the  reason  and  imagination  and  wisdom 
of  men.  In  all  the  forms  of  Government  that  have  ever  existed,  in 
the  long  annals  of  sixty  centuries  of  empire,  in  the  brightest  dream 
of  philanthropists  and  the  happiest  speculations  of  philosophy,  the 
American  Union,  in  all  that  constitutes  true  national  greatness  and 
renown,  promotes  public  justice  and  honor,  fosters  the  virtue,  hap- 
piness and  dignity  of  society,  in  all  the  elements,  attributes  and 
qualities  of  a  benign,  peaceful,  and  paternal  Sovereign,  is  without 
a  precedent  or  a  parallel.  It  stands  alone  like  the  great  luminary 
of  day,  unsurpassed,  unequalled,  unapproachable — in  the  splendor 
of  its  achievements,  the  utility  of  its  offices,  the  extent  of  its  influ- 
ence, the  magnificence  of  its  course,  and  its  majestic  simplicity. 
To  it  we  are  to  ascribe  the  preservation  of  our  national  indepen- 
dence, and  the  perpetuity  of  Liberty  itself.  Under  its  auspices,  in 
the  short  space  of  threescore  years,  we  have  established  a  national 
character,  which  is  felt  and  respected  by  every  people  upon  the 
face  of  the  earth  ;  and  which  to-day  makes  the  United  Slates  of 
America  the  first  power  upon  the  habitable  globe,  and  gives  it  a 
prouder  place  in  the  public  opinion  of  mankind  than  was  ever 
filled  by  any  nation  of  any  age.  What  of  greatness  and  grandeur 
and  goodness  has  this  Union  of  ours  not  accomplished  ?  Its  influ- 
ence has  gone  hand  in  hand  with  its  enterprise  and  genius  around 
the  world,  and  every  step  of  its  history  is  marked  with  generous 
philanthropy  and  successful  prowess.  It  found  maritime  law  but 
another  Island  of  Delos  floating  under  the  waves  of  precedent, 
at  the  discretion  of  power,  and  only  employed  for  purposes  of 
wrong  ;  and  it  raised  it  from  the  deep,  fixed  it  in  its  place  and 
bound  it  with  metes  ©f  right  and  justice.  It  first  announced  the 
independence  and  equality  of  all  nations  upon  the  seas,  proclaim- 
ed the  immunity  of  flags,  struck  the  blot  of  impressment  from  the 
public  code  and  inserted  in  its  place  a  Statute  of  freedom  and  a 
Charter  for  civilization.  It  found  the  highways  of  the  ocean  taxed 
with  tribute  and  closed  by  avarice,  and  it  opened  wide  the  gates 
of  trade,  made    the   universal  seas  free,  and  taught  commerce  the 


11 

way  over  tliem — for  with  the  Eagle  we  visit  all  climes,  and  there  is 
no  spot  beneath  the  Heavens  where  our  Stars  do  not  glitter. 

"Quis  jam  locus  ? 

Quae  regio  in  terris  nostri  non  plena  labor  is  ? 

Useful  as  the  Union  has  been  abroad,  it  has  yet  been  more  bene- 
ficent at  home.  Under  its  aegis  three  millions  of  people  have  mul- 
tiplied to  twenty -five — thirteen  States  have  increased  to  thirty-one 
— the  Republic  has  extended  over  the  Mississippi  and  now  reaches 
the  Pacific  Seas.  This  morning  the  rising  Sun  dawned  upon  the 
Eastern  wing,  and  this  evening  the  setting  Sun  will  go  to  rest  un- 
der the  Western  wing  of  the  Union — a  ''vast  breadth"  of  five 
thousand  miles  inhabited  by  twenty-five  millions  of  intelligent,  in- 
dustrious, patriotic  freemen,  and  all  countrymen,  under  one  wise, 
firm,  and  equal  government.  From  the  Gulf  Stream  to  the  Trade 
Winds — from  the  Icebergs  to  the  Orange  trees,  one  mighty  heart 
throbs  with  freedom  and  basks  in  knowledge.  What  a  monument 
of  peace,  prosperity  and  power.  Let  it  speak  to  us,  from  its  bound- 
less base,  of  duty  and  patriotism.  Let  it  raise  our  thoughts  to  its 
sphered  dome,  above  all  local,  sectional  ideas,  and  fix  them  upon 
our  Country,  our  Liberty,  our  Union,  and  the  voice  of  human  hope 
throughout  the  world,  and  the  destiny  of  man  in  all  time  to  come, 
will  hail  and  proclaim  its  glory  and  its  blessings. 

It  has  been  truly  said  that  all  things  are  to  be  judged  by  com- 
parison, and  it  would  be  well  for  those  who  propose  to  calculate  the 
value  of  the  Union,  to  consider  by  what  standards  they  will  t<-st  its 
merits.  Every  thing  is  relative,  and  a  form  of  Government  ought 
certainly  to  be  esteemed  in  proportion  to  its  excellence  in  compari- 
son with  all  other  forms  of  Government,  and  that  excellence  ought 
to  be  estimated  by  the  progress,  virtue,  intelligence  and  happiness 
of  the  people  who  live  under  it.  Adopting  this  principle  as  a  rule, 
let  us  try  the  American  Union  by  it ;  for  the  picture  would  be  but 
half  complete,  in  which  the  Artist  forgot  to  mingle  shade  with  light, 
and,  altogether  omitted  the  background  on  which  the  main  figure 
of  his  piece  ought  to  have  been  represented.  Let  your  historical 
recollections  carry  you  back  to  the  great  Republics  of  Antiquity. 
Fix  your  eyes,  not  upon  the  ruins,  but  the  living  forms  of  Grecian 
and  Roman  liberty  in  the  halcyon  days  of  "  arms  and  arts  and 
trophies,4'  when  their  orbs  shone  with  meridian  brightness,  and  the 
world  worshipped  the  genius  of  one  and  bowed  to  the  valor  of  the 
other.  A  dazzling  spectacle  it  is  true — at  the  end  of  twenty-four 
hundred  years  we  pause  in  mingled  admiration  before  the  Mistress 


12 

of  Letters  and  the  Queen  of  Nations.  But  go  to  the  proud  capitals 
of  Athens  and  Rome,  and,  with  all  of  their  histories  open  before 
you,  select  with  care,  not  an  age,  a  century  or  an  half  century,  but 
a  year,  a  day,  or  an  hour,  the  brightest  and  happiest  which  you  can 
find  in  their  own  annals,  separate  it  nicely  from  all  the  shades  that 
precede,  or  follow  its  splendor,  view  it  alone  in  all  of  its  beauty,  un- 
shorn of  any  of  its  beams,  and  in  the  fairest  light  which  partial 
Genius  has  thrown  around  it,  and  you  will  find  in  that  one  favored 
and  chosen  spot  upon  the  chequered  page  of  their  history,  more  to 
regret,  deplore,  and  condemn,  than  every  enemy  of  the  American 
Union  can  discover  in  the  whole  career  of  perilous  and  trying  vicis- 
situdes through  which  we  have  passed  from  the  foundation  of  the 
Government.  Where  in  the  history  of  Roman  liberty  can  the 
eye  of  the  American  patriot  repose  with  pleasure  ?  The  Republic 
extended  from  the  banishment  of  the  Tarquins  to  the  battle  of  Ac- 
tium,  over  a  period  of  six  hundred  years,  and  during  all  of  that 
time  the  Temple  of  Janus  was  shut  but  once.  The  close  of  the  first 
Punic  war  left  Rome  at  peace  with  the  world,  but  to  make  war 
upon  herself.  Domestic  strife  and  civil  discord  again  drove  the 
Republic  to  arms,  and  the  nation  vainly  sought  its  own  safety  in 
unjust  conquest  and  ambitious  empire.  The  Eagle,  whose  burn- 
ished wings  reflected  the  sunbeams  from  the  Pyramids  to  the  Pyre- 
nees, was  a  bird  of  prey,  and  a  nation  in  armor  for  six  hundred 
years,  and  a  sword  that  was  never  sheathed  might  dazzle,  but  could 
never  bless  mankind.  "Will  you  find  in  the  land  of  Marathon  and 
Demosthenes  a  more  encouraging  example  ?  Take  the  age  of  Peri- 
cles, by  tar  the  most  illustrious  and  favored  age  oi  Greece.  It 
was  the  era  when  the  Drama,  Philosophy,  Eloquence,  Heroism, 
and  Architecture,  crowned  Athens  with  their  fadeless  laurels,  and 
placed  upon  the  brow  of  Greece  the  Diadem  of  the  Muses.  When 
Zeno  taught  his  ethics,  Sophocles  composed  his  tragedies,  Thucy- 
dides  wrote  his  history,  Cimon  conquered  the  Persians  and  Pericles 
paved  the  city  with  marble  and  boasted  "  that  during  his  adminis- 
tration he  had  caused  no  tears  to  flow."  It  was  the  palmiest  day  of 
Grecian  liberty— but  we  must  not  forget  that  the  unhappy  colonies 
of  Samos  and  Byzantium  were  taxed  against  their  will,  to  their  im- 
poverishment and  ruin,  to  pay  for  the  costly  improvements  of  the 
city — that  Thucydides,  whose  pen  immortalized  the  age,  was  ban- 
ished by  sedition,  that  Cimon  was  unjustly  ostracised  for  treason, 
that  Pericles  died  o!  a  broken  heart,  in  a  civil  war,  after  he  had 
sold  justice  in  the  streets,  that  the  approaching  armies  of  Sparta, 


13 

a  sister  State,  dissolved  the  assembly  to  whom  Sophocles  was  re- 
citing his  poems,  and  that  the  beautiful  but  fallen  Aspasia  had 
already  corrupted  public  virtue  and  poisoned  social  happiness. 
Does  Modern  Europe  furnish  those  who  propose  to  calculate  the 
value  of  the  Union  a  more  cheering  comparison  ?  Let  the  Crimea 
answer.  The  flames  of  Sebastopol  have  written  it  in  tragedy — sad 
as  the  pestilence  and  dark  as  the  storm — on  the  Heavens,  and  all 
Ocean's  waters  cannot  wash  it  out — the  world  reads  it  and  weeps 
over  it,  and  yet  it  is  but  another  scene  in  that  drama  of  blood 
which  European  tyranny  has  been  acting  for  a  thousand  years. 
The  curtain  will  hardly  fall  upon  the  death  scene  of  the  Black  Sea, 
before  it  rises  upon  the  tears  of  Constantinople  and  the  flashing  and 
clashing  swords  of  the  Allies.  Look  at  France,  the  last  hope  of 
liberty  in  the  East! — the  ashes  of  Lafayette  sleep  beneath  the  frown 
of  the  despot— there  is  no  France,  Napoleon  is  the  State,  and  in  him 
Borgia  and  Machiavelli  again  live.  Tou  might  as  well  go  to  Etna 
or  Vesuvius  for  the  source  of  the  sun,  as  to  modern  Europe  for 
models  of  self  government.  Nor  does  South  America  brighten  the 
shades  of  the  picture.  In  vain  did  the  noble  Bolivar  raise  the 
standard  of  freedom  on  her  plains.  The  trail  of  Spain,  like  the 
track  of  the  deadly  Constrictor,  is  still  upon  the  banks  of  the  Ama- 
zon, and  along  the  peaks  of  the  Andes,  and  you  behold  in  the  smok- 
ing volcano  and  the  rapacious  vulture  upon  its  rocks,  the  emblem 
and  the  ensign  of  South  American  liberty.  If  every  nation  upon 
the  continent  was  struck  at  one  blow  from  existence,  the  civilized 
world  would  scarcely  feel  a  sensation.  Shall  we  bring  the  figure 
nearer  home,  and  run  the  parallel  into  the  bosom  of  the  Republic  ? 
It  were  a  thankless  task  ot  compare  State  with  State  and  the  work 
of  one  with  the  work  of  the  whole,  for  we  would  wish  them  all 
equally  good,  glorious  and  happy.  Yet  "  there  is  one  glory  of  the 
sun,  and  another  glory  of  the  moon,  and  another  glory  of  the  stars  ; 
for  one  star  differeth  from  another  star  in  glory.''  It  is  indeed  a 
touching  reflection,  and  one  that  ought  ever  to  be  remembered,  that 
the  little  State  of  Rhode  Island,  covering  not  a  thousandth  part  of 
the  territory  of  the  Republic,  though  her  voice  in  the  National 
Councils  balances  that  of  the  great  State  of  New  York,  has  expe  - 
rienced  in  her  own  domestic  history,  in  the  administration  of  her 
little  State  government  more  disorder,  tumult,  sedition,  and  blood- 
shed than  has  befallen  the  administration  of  the  Union  from  the 
adoption  of  the  constitution  to  the  present  hour — in  the  regulation 
of  commerce,  the  conduct  of  wars,  the  establishment  of  states  and 


14 

the  discharge  of  all  of  its  delicate,  diversified,  and  difficult  duties. 
Where  will  you  find  a  standard  by  which  to  calculate  the  value  of 
the  Union?  Take  the  map  of  the  world  and  spread  it  out  before 
you;  examine  it  well ;  follow  the  lines  which  distinguish  nation 
from  nation  and  race  from  race,  and  reflect  calmly  upon  the  rise, 
progress  and  condition  of  every  State,  people,  and  empire,  that  are 
marked  upon  it,  and  you  will  look  in  vain  for  a  model  by  which 
the  wisdom,  justice,  and  success  of  this  Union  can  be  measured. 
The  ancient  world  did  not  produce  it — the  modern  world  does  not 
furnish  it ;  Plato  never  dreamed  it,  Locke  could  not  conceive  it. 

You  cannot  calculate  the  value  of  the  Union.  The  Astronomer 
from  his  observatory  may  measure  the  disc  of  the  sun,  tell  you  his 
distance  from  the  earth,  describe  the  motion  of  his  rays,  and  pre- 
dict with  positive  certainty  an  eclipse;  but  he  cannot  compute  the 
utility  of  heat,  the  blessings  of  light,  nor  the  glory  and  splendor  of 
the  God  of  day.  Who  can  calculate  the  value  of  constitutional, 
united  Liberty — the  blessings  of  a  Free  Press,  Free  Schools,  and  a 
Free  Religion?  Go  and  calculate  the  value  of  the  air  we  breathe, 
the  water  we  drink,  the  earth  that  we  inhabit.  By  what  mathe- 
matical process  will  you  calculate  the  value  of  national  character  ! 
In  what  scales  will  you  weigh  political  equality  and  the  ballot-box? 
At  what  price  would  you  sell  American  citizenship?  What  is  self- 
government  worth — its  freedom,  happiness,  and  example?  "Cal- 
culate the  value  of  the  Union!"  Look  at  the  mighty  Mississippi 
the  Father  of  Waters— it  rises  in  the  nameless  snows  of  North 
America — runs  through  twenty-three  degrees  of  latitude,  all  our  own 
soil,  and  washes  the  sides  of  ten  young,  flourishing,  and  powerful 
States;  its  tributaries  drain  the  rains  that  fall  in  sight  of  the  Atlan- 
tic and  meet  the  streams  that  flow  into  the  Pacific  upon  the  sum- 
mit of  the  Rocky  Mountains — its  broad  tides  bear  on  their  buoy- 
ant bosom  the  clothing  of  half  of  the  world,  and  the  fertile  valleys, 
which  spread  out  from  its  ample  banks  are  capable  of  producing 
food  for  the  population  of  the  whole  earth  for  a  thousand  years  to 
come.  On  its  eastern  shore,  in  a  quiet  spot,  near  the  Crescent  City, 
you  see  some  clusters  of  small  orange  trees  growing  upon  a  broken 
embankment,  and  now  and  then  an  old  but  flourishing  live-oak 
spreads  its  green  branches  over  the  damp  sod.  You  are  on  the 
battle-ground  of  New  Orleans !  You  behold  the  field  of  the  most 
remarkable  victory  ever  won,  and  as  you  ascend  the  mouldering 
entrenchment,  the  morning  of  the  Eighth  of  January,  Eighteen 
Hundred  and  fifteen  rises  before  you.  Your  heart  beats  anxiously ; 


15 

you  watch  the  serried  columns  of  Packenhara  advance  to  the 
charge — you  note  the  calm  faces  of  Jackson's  men — you  hear  the 
rifles'  peal,  the  din  of  musketry,  the  cannon's  roar — you  see  the 
repulse,  the  retreat,  the  field  of  the  dead  and  the  dying — you 
cross  the  moat,  and  as  the  smoke  clears  away,  you  count  the  fallen ; 
the  English  have  left  twenty  six  hundred  men  on  that  field- the 
Americans  have  lost  seven  killed  and  six  wounded — you  remember 
no  victory  like  it — the  historian  tells  you  ;'  it  is  a  disproportion  of 
loss  unrecorded  of  any  other  battle" — you  see  the  Flag  of  the  Stars 
waving  over  you  and  you  feel  your  country  in  your  veins.  Stand 
upon  the  battle  ground  of  New  Orleans,  by  the  side  of  the  great 
Father  of  Waters,  and  tell  me,  if  you  can,  what  the  Union  is 
worth?  These  are  its  jewels — they  shine  brightly  in  a  diadem 
whose  full  and  radiant  circle  sparkles  all  over  with  glorious  deeds. 

In  that  Union  we  exhibit  this  day  to  the  admiration  of  the  world 
the  spectacle  and  example  of  a  free  government,  which,  without 
levying  one  cent  of  tax  upon  the  person  or  property  of  any  one  of 
its  citizens,  except  such  as  they  voluntarily  choose  to  pay,  maintains 
an  army  of  ten  thousand  men  and  a  navy  sufficient  to  protect  our 
commerce,  now  the  largest  on  the  seas  :  which  transports  public 
and  private  intelligence,  at  home  and  abroad,  over  fifty  three  mil- 
lions of  miles  of  mail  line,  and  annually  distributes  to  a  population 
scattered  over  an  area  of  territory  of  three  millions  five  hundred 
thousand  square  miles,  not  only  countless  pages  of  useful  public  in- 
formation and  valuable  practical  knowledge,  but  along  with  them 
the  seeds  and  germs  of  the  fruits  and  flowers  of  every  soil  and  cli- 
mate under  the  sun:  which  secures  to  all  men  by  just  privileges 
the  rewards  of  their  genius  and  labor,  and  keeps  open,  honest,  and 
learned  Courts  for  the  defence  of  all  rights,  which  local  laws  do  not 
recognize:  whose  flag  guards  its  citizens  with  sacred  vigilance  on 
all  oceans  and  in  every  land,  and  whose  broad  nationality  warrants 
to  every  soul  who  breathes  beneath  it  a  home  of  security,  law, 
peace,  freedom,  and  honor,  and  which,  in  its  whole  history,  has 
crushed  no  man's  liberty,  nor  "shed  one  drop  of  blood  for  treason 
or  rebellion."  Shall  this  spectacle  be  blotted  from  the  light  of  day; 
this  example  cease  to  instruct  and  cheer  the  hearts  of  men  ?  This 
is  the  question  which  this  generation  has  to  settle,  not  only  for  it- 
self, but  for  generations  in  all  time  to  come — the  most  momentous 
question  that  ever  engaged  the  souls  of  patriots.  The  preservation 
of  the  Union  of  the  States  and  People  of  America. 

I  shall  not  stop  to  inquire,  neither  my  inclination  nor  the  pro- 


16 

prieties  of  this  occasion  permit  me  to  inquire,  whether  the  Consti- 
tution established  a  Federal  or  a  National  Union — "  whether  sover- 
eignty resides  with  the  people  of  the  States  as  bodies,  or  in  the 
people  of  the  United  States  as  a  whole."  These  questions  belong 
to  other  places  and  times — they  now  threaten  the  Union  with  no 
danger,  and  are  almost  forgotten  in  the  happy  fact  that  whatever 
its  particular  character  may  be,  the  Union  has  well  answered  the 
purposes  and  hopes  of  those  who  formed  it.  But,  there  is  a  dan- 
ger— a  dark  and  gloomy  danger — an  appalling  and  overwhelming 
danger — which  hovers  in  black  clouds  over  our  government  and 
liberties,  and  casts  a  livid  and  frightful  shade  over  this  beautiful 
land. 

It  is  Dismemberment  which  agitates  the  bosom  of  the  Republic? 
the  word  which  makes  the  hearts  of  patriots  stand  still  in  their 
breasts  and  the  pulse  of  tyrants  leap  with  joy — the  word  upon  which 
the  Father  of  his  Country  set  his  curse — the  word  of  despair.  We 
hear  it  discussed  in  social  circles,  proclaimed  by  the  press  and  advo- 
cated in  public  councils.  Let  us  not  be  deceived  by  sounds.  Dis- 
union means  nothing  less  than  the  disruption  of  the  Government — 
the  destruction  of  the  Constitution,  the  tearing  asunder  of  the  States 
and  the  end  of  the  Republic.  With  que  blow,  it  proposes  to  strike 
from  being  the  works  of  our  Fathers,  to  annihilate  our  progress  and 
achievements,  to  blot  out  our  glories  and  extinguish  our  hopes.  It 
would  overthrow  the  Union  and  leave  nothing  but  shame  above  its 
ruins ;  it  would  draw  a  ruthless  line  across  the  Republic,  although  it 
passed  over  the  grave  of  Washington  and  divided  the  ashes  of  the 
Great  Father  of  our  Country. 

With  what  plea  can  Disunion  appear  before  the  bar  of  this  world* 
or  the  throne  of  another?  It  proposes  as  a  remedy  for  evils,  an 
evil  before  which  all  others  sink  into  insignificance;  it  suggests  as  a 
measure  of  honor,  an  act  which  would  cover  the  American  name 
with  dishonor  as  long  as  the  earth  remains — it  holds  up  before  us 
the  bloody  mantle  of  liberty,  pierced  with  a  thousand  deadly 
wounds,  and  tells  us  tha*  is  the  way  to  preserve  freedom — it  shows 
us  the  temple  of  self-government  wrapped  in  flames,  and  all  that  is 
valuable  burning  in  the  conflagration,  and  does  not,  and  cannot 
point  to  one  benefit  conferred,  one  grievance  redressed,  one  right 
restored  by  the  awful  sacrifice ;  it  is  that  spirit  which  would  have 
the  beautiful  Heavens  with  their  rolling  worlds  of  light,  and  the  great 
central  Sun,   around  which  all  in  harmony  revolve,   hurled  into 


17 

chaos  and  darkness,  because  the  little  planet  of  Vesta,  or  some  strag- 
gling comet  happened  to  wander  from  its  sphere. 

And  how  is  disunion  to  be  accomplished?  Can  any  rational  man 
for  a  moment  expect  peaceable,  friendly  dissolution  ?  Must  not 
the  causes  that  lead  to  separation,  of  necessity,  lead  to  hostilities? 
Yeu  might  as  well  look  to  see  the  mountains  leave  their  bases,  and 
melt  into  the  ocean,  and  the  earth  quit  its  orbit  without  convulsion, 
as  expect  the  wheels  of  this  government  to  be  broken  up  and  its 
revolutions  thrown  into  space  without  violence  and  collision,  No! 
the  Pearl  of  the  Union  can  be  dissolved  in  nothing  but  blood.  The 
Almighty  hand,  which  fashioned  the  Universe,  could  alone  divide 
and  partition  out  the  army,  and  the  navy,  and  the  treasury,  and  all 
else  we  have,  among  the  inflamed  fragments  into  which  the  Union 
would  be  sundered.  Disunion  contemplates  anarchy,  war,  civil 
war,  havoc  and  night.  It  can  contemplate  nothing  else.  And  after 
it  is  all  over,  if  it  ever  shall  be  over,  where  will  we  find  ourselves  ? 
How  shall  we  stand  in  our  own  eyes  and  the  eyes  of  the  world  ! 
Where  will  be  our  proud  commerce,  our  emblazoned  banner,  our 
i  national  name,  the  peace,  prosperity,  gbry,  and  power,  which  we 
mow  possess  and  enjoy?  There  will  be  no  longer  an  American  citi- 
zen upon  the  wide  earth.  Disunion  will  be  the  tomb  in  which  all, 
all  are  buried,  a  tomb  of  ashes  and  infamy,  *'in  which  dismal  vaults 
iin  black  succession  open"  on  "sights  of  woe,  regions  of  soirow, 
doleful  shades — without  end." 

And  shall  Bunker  Hill  be  divided  from  Yorktown,  and  Mecklen- 

I burg  from  Philadelphia?     Shall  our  sires  of  the  Revolution   have 

left  the  bloody  tracks  of  their  naked  feet  on  the  snows  of  Valley 

|IForge  in  vain?    Shall  Washington   have   lived  for  nothing?     Is 

i  (American  history,  like  Herculaneum  and  Pompeii,  to  be  buried  in 

j  :ruins  and  only  dug  from  oblivion  as  a  curious  wonder  ?     Is  this  last 

^experiment  of  self-government  to  fail,  and  is  man  never  to  be  free  I 

Are  we,  in  our  day,  to  see  any  State  leave  the   Union  as  "  Hagar 

with  young  Ishmael  wandered  from  the  tents  of  Israel"  with  hands 

raised  against  all  men  and  the  hands  of  all  men  raised  against  her  J 

Or  are  we  to  witness   the  sadder   spectacle  of  a  section  of  the 

Confederacy   following    the   hated    example   of  the   false   Mother 

in  King  Solomon's  Court  who  desired  the  living  child  to  be  cut  ia 

twain,  that  she  might  have  one-half  of  the  dead  corpse  ?     Is  the  flag 

of  the  Republic  to  be  torn  in  two  and  divided,  the  stars  pulled  apart 

land  the  stripes  rent  asunder,  its  bright  folds  stained  with  brother's 

tiblood,  and  wet  with  patriot's  tears  ?     Shall  the  Constitution  itself 

2 


18 

perish  as  a  scroll,  and  its  mangled  scraps  and  shreds  be  blown  about 
by  the  winds  and   trampled  in  the  dust,  the   melancholy  insignia  of 
the  dismembered  Republic  ?     These  would  be  some  of  the  trophies 
of  disunion. 

But  it  cannot  be.  Enlightened,  considerate,  patriotic  America, 
will  not,  cannot  commit  an  act  of  folly  and  madness,  the  greatest 
and  the  darkest  which  human  error  ever  conceived,  or  human  de- 
pravity accomplished.  See  that  beautiful  ship  in  full  sail  upon  the 
flowing  ocean — how  nobly  she  moves  along  her  trackless  pathway. 
Her  wings  of  canvass  hang  like  sunlit  clouds  about  the  steepled 
masts,  and  the  w;»ves  in  glad  harmomy  play  around  her  ample  sides 
as  the  gallant  prow  steps  from  billow  to  billow  to  the  music  of  the 
tides.  It  is  the  flag-ship  of  liberty — she  carries  the  fortunes,  not  of 
Csesar,  but  of  man — her  deck  is  the  tribune  of  the  people,  and  the 
altar  of  the  living  God.  She  is  laden  with  the  spoils  of  a  thousand 
arts — science  illumines  her  progress,  and  literature  sheds  a  halo  on 
her  wake — blessings  cleave  to  her  sails  as  she  bears  to  distant  shores 
the  stores  of  plenty  and  the  lights  of  freedom,  and  from  half  the 
family  of  man  a  voice  of  interest  and  hope  hails  her,  speed  and  safety. 
Presently  when  the  waters  are  all  calm  and  the  skies  bright,  a  few 
factious  spirits  on  that  ship  of  good  hopes,  raise  a  dispute  about  the 
variation  of  the  compass,  and  as  the  vessel  sails  on,  the  contest 
waxes  warmer,  and  others  of  ardent  passions  enlist  in  the  contro- 
versy. One  party  vows  that  the  needle  is  varying  too  much  to  the 
"West — the  other  declares  that  it  is  inclining  rapidly  Eastward. — 
The  wise,  the  considerate  and  the  faithful,  labor  to  paciiy  the  dispu- 
tants, and  restore  harmony  among  the  crew,  by  assurances  that  the 
noble  bark  is  on  her  proud  way  to  the  haven  of  happiness  and  honor^ 
and  that,  if  she  is  wandering  on  either  side  of  the  right  line,  it  be- 
comes her  men  to  unite  in  bringing  her  back,  by  consulting  and 
obeying  the  unerring  chart  of  the  stars,  and  not  by  angry  reproaches 
and  bitter  criminations  to  jeopard  her  safety  and  mar  the  auspicious 
voyage.  But  nothing  can  satisfy  faction — conciliation  is  denounced 
as  a  dishonorable  surrender,  and  the  adversaries,  maddened  by  mu- 
tual opposition,  furiously  resolve  that  they  will  stay  together  no 
longer,  they  will  divide  that  blessed  ship,  and  separate  forever.  The 
friends  of  the  great  vessel  entreat  and  implore  them  to  forbear,  urge 
the  folly  and  madness  of  attempting  to  split  that  ship  asunder,  when 
the  billows  are  rolling  and  roaring  beneath  it,  and  show  them  the 
jealous  rivals  in  the  distance,  who  only  watch  the  opportunity  of 
their  dissensions  and  hope  to  conquer  them  when  divided.     But  all 


19 

in  vain — the  blind  and  frenzied  partizans  heed  not  the  counsels  of 
prudence  or  justice — in  vain  are  they  told  that  the  ship  cannot  be 
divided  without  sinking  and  burying  all  in  one  common  ruin — in 
vain  are  they  reminded  of  her  glorious  career  and  her  brilliant  hopes — 
in  vain  do  they  hear  the  prayers  of  millions,  and  see  arms  stretched 
from  every  snore  to  save  that  fated  vessel.  All,  all  in  vain.  They 
rush  on    deck,  seize  their  axes,    and  with   uplifted    arms  the   heavy 

blows  begin  to ao  !    it  cannot  be  !  the    tragedy   is   impossible  ! 

those  blows  will  not  be  given — that  ship  will  not  be  divided — the  sad 
fragments  of  the  wreck  will  not  be  seen  floating  on  the  waves — but 
on,  on  it  will  sail,  with  pennants  streaming  in  the  breeze,  and  glad 
hearts  beating  with  "souls  as  free."  In  that  emblem  we  behold  our 
country,  and  the  wickedness  and  folly  of  those  who  would  dismem- 
ber it.  No — the  Union  will  not  be  dissolved  !  The  blood  that  was 
shed  for  liberty  is  mingled  with  the  waters  of  the  ocean,  and  the 
sands  of  the  hills,  and  plains  of  the  Union.  The  same  streams  met 
and  mingled  again  in  victory  upon  our  lakes,  and  along  the  moun- 
tains and  valleys  of  Mexico,  and  now  flow  in  united  currents  through 
Northern  and  Southern  veins,  and  they  cannot  be  separated  ;  it  is 
the  invincible  Anglo  Saxon  blood,  which  never  runs  backward,  but 
"  like  the  Propontic  Sea,  whose  icy  current  and  compulsive  course 
knows  no  retiring  ebb,  it  goes  right  on" — it  is  the  Anglo-American 
blood,  which  stronger  than  the  Gulf  Stream,  flows  and  beats  in  one 
indivisible  tide  from  Plymouth  Rock  to  the  Caribbean  Sea. 

Nature,  too,  has  put  bonds  around  and  over  the  Union,  which 
almost  forbid  dissolution.  No  fanaticism  can  divide  the  storied  walls 
of  the  Alleghanies,  or  cut  in  two  the  ever  living  flood  of  the  Missis- 
sippi ;  they  are  laws  which  cannot  be  repealed,  and  they  do  not  bind 
the  earth  more  firmly  together  than  they  hold  the  States  of  the  Con- 
federacy in  the  fixed  embrace  of  a  common  destiny.  While  the 
Mississippi  pours  its  torrent  waves  from  the  British  possessions  to 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  the  piles  of  the  Alleghanies  lift  their  blue 
heights  to  the  clouds,  the  Union  must  stand.  The  social  and  com- 
mercial dependencies  which  hang  thickly  around  these  natural  mon- 
uments, and  make  them  the  heart  and  the  ribs,  no  less  of  trade  than 
of  the  Republic,  seem  to  render  it  impossible  to  draw  any  line  of 
division  between  the  Slave  States  on  the  one  side  and  the  Free  States 
on  the  other.  Chains  of  iron  could  not  fasten  the  States  upon  the 
upper  waters  of  the  Mississippi  to  those  at  its  mouth  more  stead- 
fastly and  eternally  than  they  are  bound  by  the  changeless  decrees 
of  that  necessity  which  compels  their  trade  down  the  mighty  chan- 


20 

nel  of  the  King  of  Floods.  Apart  then  from  our  political  relations, 
there  is  a  social  and  commercial  e  pendence,  sympathy,  and  con- 
nection, stretching  over  the  whole  Confederacy,  and  attaching  all 
its  parts  in  an  almost  indissoluble  bond  of  common  advantage,  inter- 
est, and  association. 

These  are  indeed  strong  tendencies  to  Union,  but  over  and  above 
them  all,  more  powerful  than  commercial  exigencies,  or  the  currents 
of  rivers  or  massive  mountains,  is  the  overruling  and  absorbing  sen- 
timent of  American  patriotism.     Patriotism  made  the  Union,  and 
patriotism  will  preserve  it.     A  national  American  patriotism,  which 
fills  the  whole  heart,  knows  no   localities,  and  is   as  broad  an  d  com- 
prehensive as  the  Union.     It  is   that  patriotism,  more  than  all  else, 
which  holds  the  Confederacy    together    and    makes  us  one  people  ; 
like    the   viewless    principle    of  attraction,    cohesion,    or   gravity, 
or  whatever  it   is  which   keeps  the   physical  world   in  place,   that 
sentiment  is  the  chord,   the  bond,  the  life  of  the  Union.     It  was  that 
sentiment  which,  when  sectional  jealousy  raised  its  voice  of  discord 
in  the  first  Congress  of  Independence,  inspired  Patrick  Henry,    the 
Prophet  of  liberty,  as  he  exclaimed  "I  am  not  a  Virginian,  but    an 
American ;"  and  it   is  that  sentiment  which  makes  us  declare    that 
we  are  North  Carolinians,  but,  we  are  Americans.     And  with  what 
a  magnificent  vision  does  that  idea  fill  the  mind  to-day  ?     You  or  I 
may  stand,  as, we  stand  here,  upon  the  Rocks  of  New   England,  by 
the  great  falls  of  Niagara,  upon  the  green  hills  of  the   Colorado,  on 
the  sands  of  the  Salt  Lake,  by  the  foaming  shores  of  the  Pacific,  and 
look  up  and  say,  this  is  my  country.     Aye,  you   may    look  up,   and 
with  your  eyes  follow  the  sun  in  his  revolution,  and  know  that  you 
may  go  wherever  his  rays  shine,  and  the  flag  of  that  country  will  be 
above  you  and  around  you.     Who  would  not  be  an  American    citi- 
zen ?     Who  would  wipe  from  his  face  the  bright  image  of  American 
Nationality  ?     Who  would   look  upon  the  star-spangled   ensign    of 
his  country  and  not  feel  that  his  heart  was  in  every   fold  and  fibre 
and  with  all  its  stars  and  stripes  ?     Let  us  not  be  told  then   that  we 
cannot  remain  in  the  Union  with  self  respect   and   honor.     Rather 
let  us  seek  and  earn  that  highest,  noblest,  most  lasting  of  all  honors, 
the  immortal  honor        preserving  the  Constitution  and  the  Union 
and  of  perpetuating  American  liberty  to  all  posterity,  and  holding  it 
up  in  undiminished  glory  to  the  sight  of  the  living  world    for  an  ex- 
ample and  a  solace.      Let  us  not  enquire  upon  what  section  of  the 
Confederacy  dismemberment  would  fall  heaviest,  or  to  what  State  it 
would  prove  the  greatest  affliction  ;  but  remembering  that  it   must 


21 

involve  the  ruin  of  both  sections  and  of  all  the  States,  and  feeling 
how  poor  the  consolation  will  be.  which  rational  men  derive  to 
their  own  misfortunes  from  the  sight  of  others'  woes,  let  us  labor  in 
the  nobler  work  of  promoting  our  own  welfare  by  consulting  and 
increasing  the  general  good.     This  is  the  duty  of  patriotism. 

There  are  other  considerations  which  at  this  time  and  place  ad- 
dress themselves  to  us  with  peculiar  force,  and  which  ought  not  in 
this  connection  to  be  omitted.  1  allude  to  the  claims  of  the  Union 
upon  the  scholars  of  the  country.  What  an  influence  is  United 
America  destined  to  exert  on  the  mind  of  the  human  race.  What 
must  the  world  say  to  the  startling  fact  that  at  this  time  there  are 
in  proportion  to  population,  seven  times  as  many  persons  who  hab- 
itually read  and  write  in  this  country,  as  there  are  in  the  most  fa- 
vored and  enlightened  nations  of  either  hemisphere.  To  adopt  a 
striking  illustration  of  Mr.  Webster,  "the  population  of  the  United 
States  is  twenty-three  millions — lay  off  on  the  continent  of  Europe 
an  area  in  any  shape  you  please — a  triangle,  square,  circle,  parallel- 
ogram, or  trapezoid,  and  of  an  extent  that  shall  contain  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  millions  of  people,  and  you  will  find  within  the  United 
States  more  persons  who  do  habitually  read  and  write  than  can  be 
embraced  within  the  lines  of  your  demarcation."  What  an  intel- 
lectual development  !  Twenty-three  millions  of  souls  raised  by  the 
lights  of  knowledge  nearer  to  virtue,  happiness  and  truth.  If  know- 
ledge is  power,  as  it  certainly  is,  and  power  of  the  best  kind,  what 
rank  in  the  family  of  Nations  ought  to  be  assigned  these  United 
States  ?  The  Republic  of  Liberty  is  indeed  the  land  of  intelligence. 
And  to  the  unjust  and  ungenerous  taunts  of  foreign  criticism  upon 
the  poverty  of  our  literature,  we  might  well  reply  that  generally  dif- 
fused knowledge,  and  extensive  popular  information,  are  the  first 
duty  and  highest  gloiy  of  a  free  government,  and  that  there  are  more 
daily  journals  in  the  United  States  than  there  are  in  the  world  be- 
side. But  we  have  a  National  Literature,  and  a  proud  literature  it 
is,  a  just,  free,  and  Christian  literature,  "the  graceful  ornament  of 
our  Republican  Institutions,"  and  the  bright  reflector  of  social  vir- 
tues and  national  piety.  I  need  not  tell  an  American  audience 
what  the  world  has  admitted,  that  the  first  historian  of  the  age  is  our 
countryman.  The  pen  of  Prescott  has  illustrated  the  history  of 
three  ages,  made  the  land  of  the  Montezumas  and  the  Incas  classic 
ground,  and  set  the  glory  of  Castile  and  Aragon  in  the  crown  of 
American  genius.  His  fame  is  connected  with  both  hemispheres, 
and  will  go  down  to  posterity  associated    with  the   discovery   and 


22 

conquests  of  the  New  World,  and  inscribed  on  the  most  wonderful 
page  of  Eastern  achievement.  As  scholars,  patriots  and  men  rev- 
erencing a  bright  example  of  their  embodiment,  we  wish  that  from 
this  venerable  temple  of  a  people's  learning,  a  voice  full  of  love 
could  this  day  visit  the  interesting  sage,  and  bear  to  him  a  memorial 
of  our  sympathy  and  affection.  May  that  delightful  wisdom,  which 
has  charmed  all  circles  and  grown  ripe  with  years,  yet  linger  long 
upon  the  calm  verge  of  evening,  and  go  to  rest  at  last  with  not  a 
cloud  to  shade  the  serene  splendor  of  its  decline. 

Now  let  me  ask  what  is  it  which  gives  you  and  me  and  all  of  us  a 
patriotic  participation  in  the  world  wide  renown  of  Prescott,  the 
ever  charming  page  of  Irving,  the  noble  story  of  Bancroft,  and  the 
morning  song  of  Longfellow  ?  What  gives  us  a  share  in  the  fame  of 
that  philosophy  which  has  tamed  the  flaming  minister  of  the  skies 
and  made  it  the  obedient  messenger  of  human  thought  ?  What  is 
it  that  reflects  on  us  the  glory  of  that  eloquence  whose  breath  in- 
spired by  philanthropy  fanned  the  flame  of  liberty  in  two  continents 
at  once,  as  it  was  wafted  across  the  ocean  and  echoed  from  the  clas- 
sic isles  of  Greece  to  the  sunny  shores  of  South  America  ?  What 
is  it  that  sheds  upon  us  the  splendor  of  that  science  which  has  con- 
nected the  Hemispheres  by  steam,  brought  the  whole  family  of  man 
into  one  neighborhood,  made  a  new  chart  of  the  oc  ean,  and  with  an 
electric  pen  records  the  motion  of  the  planets  ?  What  is  it  that  im- 
parts to  us  a  property  in  the  beauty  of  that  art,  which  glows  on  the 
canvass  of  Sully,  bodies  the  majesty  of  greatness  in  the  bronze  of 
Mills,  and  will  live  forever  in  the  breathing  marble  of  Powers  ? 
What  is  "it  but  the  Union  that  blends  all  of  these  separate  glo- 
ries and  blessings  into  one  beautiful  and  consistent  illumination — ■ 
which  spreads  out  like  a  canopy  over  the  whole  American  name, 
and  blazes  all  over  the  earth  as  brilliant  and  dazzling  as  the  Aurora 
Borealis,  and  steady  and  constant  as  the  milky  way  in  the  Heavens. 
Whatsis  itAbut  the  Union  which  by  the  peace  and  prosperity  it  has 
secured  has  enabled  us  to  build  up  our  thousand  printing  presses,  our 
myriad  schools,  our  countless  colleges  and  our  overflowing  libraries? 
What  is  it  but  the  Union  which  has  secured  to  the  people  of  these 
States  a  common  inheritance  of  freedom,  a  common  enjoyment  of 
renown,  and  a  common  opportunity  of  intelligence?  And  asapatriot, 
I  would  not  part  with  my  legacy  in  th  e  fame  of  Lexington,  and 
Bunker  Hill,  and  Princeton  and  Yorktown,  and  Guilford,  and  Ni- 
agara, and  Erie,  and  Buena  Vista  and  Mexico,  at  a  less  price  than 
the  precious  blood    which    they   cost,   so  as  a   scholar,  I  could  not, 


23 

without  tears  of  sorrow  and  a  heart  broken  with  shame  behold  the 
day  when  I  could  not  hold  up  my  head  and  declare  all  over  the 
world  that  I  was  a  countryman  of  Franklin  and  Fulton,  and  breath- 
ed with  Webster  and  Calhoun  and  Clay  the  same  air  of  liberty. 

Young  Gentlemen  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  as  you 
appreciate  the  blessings  of  good  government,  the  priceless  inheri- 
tance of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  the  universal  esteem  of  mankind, 
and  the  fate  of  our  race  for  all  future  ages,  as  you  value  learning 
and  desire  peace,  as  you  reverence  the  memory  of  our  Fathers  and 
love  the  honor  of  our  Country,  as  philanthropists,  patriots  and 
Christians,  I  implore  you  by  all  of  these  considerations  to  use  your 
influence,  your  talents,  your  time  and  all  the  power  you  may  pos- 
sess, to  preserve,  perpetuate  and  immortalize  the  Union  of  these 
States,  and  the  Constitution  under  which  we  live,  and  God  grant, 
that  that  Constitution  and  that  Union,  enrobed  in  the  mantle  of 
Washington  may  last  forever. 


• 


<* 


